Ronaldo

Public address system. Frankenstein was the name of the creator, not the monster.

I thought there was no such team as England till I saw them play against Holland circa '94.

We played a lot of long ball stuff with Hughton.

Oh, without doubt. Shearer had a terrible pre-season and was ineffective at best against Boro, Spurs and Norwich. Shame Bobby didn't drop him earlier, but then that's the problem he faced all along.

Great news, nobody deserves to be playing for their country more.

Bit of a glaring error that, like.

It wasn't only ever going to get worse, it was after we replaced him with Souness. Trust you to bring that up, has nothing to do with it whatsoever. The team hadn't played well for a long time and Shearer/Speed's decline compounded with ineffective summer signings made the decision inevitable, even if it could be argued it came prematurely. Anyway, RIP. Let the weaklings try to rewrite history. We all loved him and will continue to do so. Which Bobby had a whole 4 games to work with. Don't forget, it was he who planned to manoeuvre Shearer out of the team; it was Souness who was having none of that. That's one reason why Kluivert was so ineffectual. He had his problems but he still managed 13 goals in a season where he played a bit-part role; he looked a class above at times. Didn't have to be the relatively pants signing it turned out to be. The timing of the sacking was as catastrophic a decision as appointing Souness; with that in mind i can understand the reasons to let him go at the end of 03/04, as opposed to the beginning of 04/05. But i'm with Mick when it comes to denying the idea that "it was only going to get worse". He wasn't backed in the previous summer and our form suffered for it. But he made some promising signings that year in N'Zogbia, Milner, Butt and Kluivert - not forgetting that Robert was coming off the back of a sensational season, and Bellamy was fully fit for the first time in ages. Dyer was a problem child but that had always been the case; it didn't change when Souness arrived and he was actually one of our best players for the next two or three years. We had a good squad with a weak defense following the loss of Woodgate - there's no reason why we couldn't have had another good year, even if we didn't return to the heights of 01/02. We might have even won the UEFA Cup that year had we still had Bobby. It's all hypothetical i know but it's wrong to completely write off any further progress we could have made under Sir Bob. The narrative under him had taken a dip. If he was treated properly he could have halted the decline and the whole script of the next few years could've (probably would've, imo) been very different. We finished on 56 points, man. We'd declined a lot due to aging players and an imbalanced squad and that wasn't at all addressed in the summer. If anything it was worsened. Win the Uefa Cup, man. Get real.

It wasn't only ever going to get worse, it was after we replaced him with Souness. Trust you to bring that up, has nothing to do with it whatsoever. The team hadn't played well for a long time and Shearer/Speed's decline compounded with ineffective summer signings made the decision inevitable, even if it could be argued it came prematurely. Anyway, RIP. Let the weaklings try to rewrite history. We all loved him and will continue to do so. The appointment of Souness is relevant, he replaced Bobby. I still don't agree with your comment that "it was only ever going to get worse." Based on what? He'd taken teams backwards 4 times in his managerial career and then turned it around again so why was it only ever going to get worse? Nobody is disputing that Souness was the biggest mistake. That only undermines the timing, not the sacking. I'm not going to build a case against SBR in this thread, no chance. It's obvious to most what should've happened in the summer of '04.

It wasn't only ever going to get worse, it was after we replaced him with Souness. Trust you to bring that up, has nothing to do with it whatsoever. The team hadn't played well for a long time and Shearer/Speed's decline compounded with ineffective summer signings made the decision inevitable, even if it could be argued it came prematurely. Anyway, RIP. Let the weaklings try to rewrite history. We all loved him and will continue to do so.

Second choice.

Still don't think Williamson is good enough to be 3rd choice.

His sacking was disgusting, it was always going to end badly once Shepherd made it public he was going at the end of the season. He was sacked after a poor start, something which has heppened for the 2 or 3 previous seasons when we had finished so high in the league after it. 56 points the previous season was not a good total with that squad and the teams around us, whichever way you look at it, and it was only ever going to get worse.

Why, because he's less of a cunt?

Less than 24 hours, Demba. X

Recently this has certainly been the case.

Biased garbage.

Play to Carroll's strengths and you'll get a goal every other game. Play to Davies' and you'll get one every four.

How? Because he's developed into far more of a goal threat and is more mobile. Where Carroll has this natural ability to bully defenders in the air, Davies has to rely on experience and lenient refereeing.

Come on, man. He's in a different league to the likes of Kevin Davies.

I'd guess there are a few decent Championship keepers that would gladly sit on the bench for us, like.

Hopefully Carroll remembers how useless a boss Allardyce is.

There are big flaws in Jonas' game which prevent from being an all-rounder. Defensively he's very accomplished for his position, so he's a must against the rest of the top 6.

Jonas stands out like a sore thumb in that, which speaks for itself because he's not a 'bad' player.